(Calvin, Commentary on Joel, Part 3)
Lecture Fortieth.
Joel 1:12
The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate
tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, [even] all the trees
of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the
sons of men.
The Prophet now concludes his subjects which was, that as God
executed judgments so severe on the people, it was a wonder that
they remained stupefied, when thus reduces to extremities. "The
vine, he says, has dried up", and every kind of fruit; he adds the
fig-tree, afterwards the "romon", the pomegranate, (for so they
render it,) the palm, the apple-tree, and all trees. And this
sterility was a clear sign of God's wrath; and it would have been so
regarded, had not men either wholly deceived themselves, or had
become hardened against all punishments. Now this "anaistesia"
(insensibility) is as it were the very summit of evils; that is,
when men feel not their own calamities, or at least understand not
that they are inflicted by the hand of God. Let us now proceed -
Joel 1:13-15
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of
the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God:
for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the
house of your God.
14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders
[and] all the inhabitants of the land [into] the house of the LORD
your God, and cry unto the LORD,
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD [is] at hand, and as a
destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Now the Prophet begins to exhort the people to repentance.
Having represented them as grievously afflicted by the hand of God,
he now adds that a remedy was at hand, provided they solicited the
favor of God; and at the same tine he denounces a more grievous
punishment in future; for it would not have been enough that they
had been reminded of their calamities and evils, except they also
feared in time to come. Hence the Prophet, that he might the more
move them, says, that the hand of God was still stretched out, and
that there was something worse nigh at hand, except they of
themselves anticipated it. This is the purport of the whole. I now
come to the words.
"Be girded, lament and howl, he says, ye priests, the ministers
of the altar". The verb "chigru" may be explained in two ways. Some
understand it thus "Gird yourselves with sackcloth;" for shortly
after he says "with sackcloth", or "in sackcloth". But we may take
it as simply meaning, gird yourselves, that is, Hasten; for this
metaphorical expression often occurs. As to the drift of the
passage, there is but little difference, whether we read, "Gird
yourselves with sackcloth," or, "Hasten." And he addresses the
priests, though a common and general exhortation to the whole people
afterwards follows. But as God made them the leaders of his people,
it behaved them to afford others an example. It is the common duty
of all the godly to pray for and to further the salvation of their
brethren; but it is a duty especially enjoined on the ministers of
the word and on pastors. So also, when God calls those to repentance
who preside over others, they ought to lead the way, and for two
reasons; - first, because they have not been in vain chosen by the
Lord for this end, that they might outshine others, and be as
luminaries; - secondly, because they who bear any public office
ought to feel a double guilty when the Lord visits public sins with
judgment. Private men indeed sin; but in pastors there is the blame
of negligence, and still more, When they deviate even the least from
the right way, a greater offense is given. Rightly then does the
Prophet begin with the priests, when he bids the whole people to
repent. And he not only bids them to put on sackcloth, but commands
them also, as we shall see, to proclaim a fast, and then to call an
assembly: "ye priests, he says, be girded, and put on sackcloth,
wail, howl, and pass the night in sackcloth"; and then he calls them
the ministers of the altar and the ministers of God, but in a
different sense; for the Prophet does not substitute the altar for
God, as he would thus have formed an idol; but they are called the
ministers of the altar, because they offered there sacrifices to
God. They are indeed with strict propriety the ministers of God; but
as the priests, when they sacrificed, stood in the presence of God,
and as the altar was to them as it were the way of access to him,
they are called the ministers of the altar. He calls them, at the
same time, the ministers of God, and, as it has been stated, they
are properly so called.
But he says here "'elohai" (my God.) The "yod", my, is by some
omitted, as if it were a servile letter, but redundant. I, however,
doubt not but that the Prophet here mentions Him as his God; for he
thus intended to claim more authority for his doctrine. His concern
or his contest was with the whole people; and they, no doubt, in
their usual ways proudly opposed against him the name of God as
their shield. "What! are we not the very people of God?" Hence the
Prophet, in order to prove this presumption false, sets forth God as
being on his side. He therefore says, 'The ministers of my God.' Had
any one objected and said, that he was in common the God of the
whole people, the Prophet had a ready answer, - "I am specially sent
by Him, and sustain his person, and plead the cause which he has
committed to me: He is then my God and not yours." We now then see
the Prophet's meaning in this expression. He now adds, "for cut off
is offering and libation from the house of our God". He confesses
Him at the same time to be their God with reference to the
priesthood; for nothing, we know, was presumptuously invented by the
Jews, as the temple was built by Godly command, and sacrifices were
offered according to the rule of the law. He then ascribes to the
priesthood this honor, that God ruled in the temple; for God, as we
have already said, approved of that worship as having proceeded from
his word: and to this purpose is that saying of Christ, 'We know
what we worship.' But yet the priests did not rightly worship God;
for though their external rites were according to the command of
God, yet as their hearts were polluted, it is certain that whatever
they did was repudiated by God, until, being touched with the fear
of his judgment, they fled to his mercy, as the Prophet now exhorts
them to do.
He afterwards adds, "sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather
the old, all the inhabitants of the land". "Kadash" means to
sanctify and to prepare; but I have retained its proper meaning,
sanctify a fast; for the command had regard to the end, that is,
sanctification. Then "a fast proclaim" - for what purpose? That the
people might purge themselves from all their pollutions, and present
themselves pure and clean before God. "Call an assembly". It appears
that there was a solemn convocation whenever a fast was proclaimed
among the people: for it was not enough for each one privately at
home to abstain from food, except all confessed openly, with one
mouth and one consent, that they were guilty before God. Hence with
a fast was connected a solemn profession of repentance. The uses and
ends of a fast, we know, are various: but when the Prophet here
speaks of a solemn fast, he doubtless bids the people to come to it
suppliantly, as the guilty are wont to do, who would deprecate
punishment before a judge, that they may obtain mercy from him. In
the second chapter there will be much to say on fasting: I only wish
now briefly to touch on the subject.
He afterwards bids "the old to be gathered", and then adds,
"All the inhabitants of the land". But he begins with the old, and
justly so, for the guilt of the old is always the heaviest. But this
word relates not to age as in a former instance. When he said
yesterday, 'Hear ye, the aged,' he addressed those who by long
experience had learnt in the world many things unknown to the young
or to men of middle age. But now the Prophet means by the old those
to whom was intrusted the public government; and as through their
slothfulness they had suffered the worship of God and all integrity
to fall into decay, rightly does the Prophet wish them to be leaders
and precursors to the people in their confession of repentance; and
further, it behaved them, on account of their office, as we have
said of the priests, to lead the way. Joel at the same time shows
that the whole people were implicated in guilt, so that none could
be excepted, for he bids them all to come with the elders.
"Call" them, he says, "to the house of Jehovah your God, and
cry ye to Jehovah". We hence learn why he had spoken of fasting and
of sackcloth, even that they might humbly deprecate God's wrath; for
fasting of itself would have been useless, and to put on sackcloth,
we know, is in itself but an empty sign: but prayer is what the
Prophet sets here in the highest rank, and fasting is only an
appendage, and so is sackcloth. Whosoever then puts on sackcloth and
withholds prayer, is guilty of mockery; and no one can derive any
good from mere fasting; but when fasting and sackcloth are added to
prayer, and are as it were handmaids, then they are not uselessly
practiced. We may then observe, that the end of fasting and
sackcloth was no other, than that the priests together with the
whole people, might present themselves suppliantly before God, and
confess themselves worthy of destruction, and that they had no hope
except from his gratuitous mercy. This is the meaning.
It now follows, "Alas the day! for nigh is the day of Jehovah".
Here the Prophet, as it was at first stated, threatens something
worse in future than what they had experienced. He has hitherto been
showing their torpidity; now he declares that they had not yet
suffered all their punishments, but that there was something worse
to be feared, except they turned seasonably to God. And he now
exclaims, as though the day of Jehovah was before his eyes, and he
calls it the day of Jehovah, because in that day God would
stretch-forth his hand to execute judgment; for while he tolerates
men or bears with their sins, he seems not to rule in the world. And
though this mode of speaking is common enough in Scripture, it ought
yet to be carefully noticed; for all seem not to understand that God
calls that his own day, when he will openly shine forth and appear
as the judge of the world: but as long as he spares us, his face
seems to be hidden from us; yea, he seems not to govern the world.
The Prophet therefore declares here that the day of the Lord was at
hand; for it cannot be, but that the Lord must at length rise up and
ascend his throne to punish men, though for a time he may connive at
them. But the interjection, expressive of grief, intimates that the
judgment, of which the Prophet speaks, was not to be despised, for
it would be dreadful; and he wished to strike terror into the Jews,
for they were too secure. And he says, "The day is nigh", that they
might not procrastinate, as they were wont to do, from day to day:
for though men be touched by God's judgments they yet even desire
time to be prolonged to them, and they come very tardily to God.
Hence the Prophet, that he might correct this their great
slothfulness, says that the day was nigh.
He adds, "kashod mishadday yavo'" 'as a desolation from the
Almighty will it come.' The word "shadday" signifies a conqueror;
but it proceeds from the verb "shadad"; and this in Hebrew means "to
desolate," or "to destroy." The powerful and the conqueror is called
"shadday"; and hence they call God "shadday", on account of his
power. Some derive it from udder: then they call God "shadday" as
though Scripture gave him this name, because from him flows all
abundance of good things as from a fountain. But I rather refer this
name to his strength and power, for the Jews, we know, gloried in
the name of God as one armed to defend their safety. Whenever then
the Prophets said that God was "shadday", the people laid hold on
this as a ground for false confidence, "God is almighty, we are then
secure from all evils." But yet this confidence was not founded on
the promises: and it was, we know, an absurd and profane presumption
to have thus abused the name of God. Since then the Jews foolishly
pricked themselves on this, that God had adopted them for his
people, the prophet says here, "There will come a desolation from
the Almighty;" that is, "God is Almighty, but ye are greatly
deceived in thinking that your safety is secured by his power; for
he will, on the contrary, be opposed to you, inasmuch as ye have
provoked his wrath." It follows -
Joel 1:16,17
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate,
the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
He repeats the same thing as before, for he reproaches the Jews
for being so slow to consider that the hand of God was against them.
"Has not the meat, he says, been cut off before our eyes? joy and
exultation from the house of our God?" Here he chides the madness of
the Jews, that they perceived not things set before their eyes. He
therefore says that they were blind in the midst of light, and that
their sight was such, that seeing they saw nothing: they surely
ought to have felt distressed, when want reached the temple. For
since God had commanded the first-fruits to be offered to him, the
temple ought not by any means to have been without its sacrifices;
and though mortals perish a hundred times through famine and want,
yet God ought not to be defrauded of his right. When, therefore,
there was now no offering nor libation, how great was the stupidity
of the people not to feel this curse, which ought to have wounded
them more than if they had been consumed a hundred times by famine?
We see then the design of the Prophet's words, that is, to condemn
the Jews for their stupidity; for they considered not that a most
grievous judgment was brought on them, when the temple was deprived
of its usual sacrifices.
He afterwards adds, that "joy and gladness" were taken away:
for God commanded the Jews to come to the temple to give thanks and
to acknowledge themselves blessed, because he had chosen his
habitation among them. Hence this expression is so often repeated by
Moses, 'Thou shalt rejoice before thy God;' for by saying this, God
intended to encourage the people the more to come cheerfully to the
temple; as though he said, "I certainly want not your presence, but
I wish by my presence to make you glad." But now when the worship of
God ceased, the Prophet says, that joy had been also abolished; for
the Jews could not cheerfully give thanks to God when his curse was
before their eyes, when they saw that he was their adversary, and
also when they were deprived of the ordinances of religion. We now
then perceive why the Prophet joins joy and gladness with oblations:
they were the symbols of thanksgiving.
He shows the cause of the evil, "Rotted have the grains in the
very furrows". For they call seeds "perudot" from the act of
scattering. He then calls grains by this name, because they are
scattered; and he says that they rotted in the fields when they
ought to have germinated. He then adds, "The granaries halve become
desolated and the barns have been pulled down"; for there was no use
for them. Hence we conclude, that sterility had become most grievous
and perpetual; for if the people had been only afflicted by famine
for a few harvests or for one year, the Prophet would not have
spoken thus. The famine must then have been, as it has been already
stated for a long time. Let us now proceed -
Joel 1:18
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because
they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
The Prophet amplifies his reproof, that even oxen as well as
other animals felt the judgment of God. There is then here an
implied comparison between the feeling of brute animals and the
insensibility of the people, as though he said, "There is certainly
more intelligence and reason in oxen and other brute animals than in
you; for the herds groan, the flocks groan, but ye remain stupid and
confounded. What does this mean?" We then see that the Prophet here
compares the stupidity of the people with the feeling of animals, to
make them more ashamed.
"How, he says, has the beast groaned?" The question serves to
show vehemence; for if he had said in the form of a narrative, that
the animals groaned, that the cattle were confounded, and that the
flocks perished, the Jews would have been less affected; but when he
exclaims and, moved with astonishment, speaks interrogatively, How
does the beast groan? he, no doubt, wished to produce an effect on
the Jews, that they might perceive the judgment of God, which they
had before passed by with their eyes closed, though it was quite
manifest. It follows -
Joel 1:19,20
O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures
of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the
field.
The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters
are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the
wilderness.
When the Prophet saw that he succeeded less than he expected,
leaving the people, he speaks of what he would do himself, "I will
cry to thee, Jehovah". He had before bidden others to cry, and why
does he not now press the same thing? Because he saw that the Jews
were so deaf and listless as to make no account of all his
exhortations: he therefore says, "I will cry to thee, Jehovah; for
they are touched neither by shame nor by fear. Since they throw
aside every regard for their own safety, since they account as
nothing my exhortations I will leave them, and will cry to thee;"
which means this, - "I see, Lord, that all these calamities proceed
from thy hand; I will not howl as profane men do, but I will ascribe
them to thee; for I perceive thee to be acting as a judge in all the
evils which we suffer." Having then before declared that the Jews
were more tardy than brute animals and having reproached them for
feeling less acutely than oxen and sheep, the Prophet now says, that
though they all remained obstinate, he would yet do what a pious man
and a worshipper of God ought to do, I will cry to thee - Why?
Because the "fire has consumed the pastures, or the dwellings, of
the wilderness".
He here again gives an awful record of God's judgments. Though
the heat may burn up whole regions, yet we know that pasture-lands
do not soon wither, especially on mountains; and of such cold
pastures he speaks here. We know that however great may be the
fertility of mountains, yet coolness prevails there, and that, in
the greatest drought, the mountainous regions are ever green. But
the Prophet tells us here of an unusual thing, that the dwellings of
the wilderness were burnt up. Some render "ne'ot" pastures; others,
dwellings: but as to the meaning, we may read either; for the
Prophet refers here to cold and humid regions, which never want
moisture in the greatest heats. Some render the word, the beautiful
or fair spots of the wilderness, but improperly. He doubtless means
pastures, or dwellings, or folds. "The fire then has consumed the
dwellings, or pastures of the wilderness". This was not usual; it
did not happen according to the ordinary course of nature: it then
follows that it was a miracle. This is the reason why the Prophet
says, that it was now time to cry to God; for it did not appear to
be fortuitous, that the heat had burnt up regions which were moist
and well watered. "The flame, he says hath burnt up all the trees of
the field".
He afterwards adds "The beasts of the field will also cry" (for
the verb is in the plural number;) the beasts then will cry. The
Prophet expresses here more clearly what he had said before that
though the brute animals were void of reasons they yet felt God's
judgment, so that they constrained men by their example to feel
ashamed, for they cried to God: the beasts then of the field cry. He
ascribes crying to them, as it is elsewhere ascribed to the young
ravens. The young ravens, properly speaking, do not indeed call on
God; and yet the Psalmist says so, and that, because they confess,
by raising up their bills, that there is no supply for their want
except God supports them. So also the Prophet mentions here the
beasts as crying to God. It is indeed a figure of speech, called
personification; for this could not be properly said of beasts. But
when the beasts made a noise under the pressure of famine, was it
not such a calling on God as their nature admitted? As much then as
the nature of brute animals allows, they may be said to seek their
food from the Lord, when they send forth lamentable cries and
noises, and show that they are oppressed with famine and want. When,
therefore, the Prophet attributes crying to beasts, he at the same
time reproaches the Jews with their stupidity, that they did not
call on God. "What do you mean," he says. "See the brute animals;
they show to you what ought to be done; it is at least a teaching
that ought to have effect on you. If I and the other prophets have
lost all our labour, if God has in vain performed the office of a
teacher among you, let the very oxen at least be your teachers; to
whom indeed it is a shame to be disciples, but it is a greater shame
not to attend to what they teach you; for the oxen by their example
lead you to God."
We now perceive how much vehemence there is in the Prophet's
words, when he says, Even the beasts of the field will cry to God;
"for the streams of waters have dried up, and the fire has consumed
the dwellings, or the pastures of the wilderness". He again teaches
what I have lately stated, that sterility proceeded from the evident
judgment of God, and that it ought to have struck dread into men,
for it was a sort of miracle. When, therefore the courses of waters
dried up on the mountains, how could it be deemed natural? "'Afikim"
mean courses of waters or valleys through which the waters run. The
Prophet here refers, no doubt, to those regions which, through the
abundance of water, always retain their fertility. When, therefore,
the very valleys were burnt up, they ought surely to own that
something wonderful had happened. On this account, he ascribes
crying to herds and brute animals, and not any sort of crying, but
that by which they called on God. What remains we shall defer till
to-morrow.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou sees us to be surrounded with the
infirmity of our flesh, and so held by, and, as it were, overwhelmed
with, earthly cares, that we can hardly raise up our hearts and
minds to thee, - O grant, that being awaked by thy word and daily
warnings, we may at length feel our evils, and that we may not only
learn by the stripes thou inflictest on us, but also of our own
accord, summon ourselves to judgment, and examine our hearts, and
thus come to thy presence, being our own judges; so that we may
anticipate thy displeasure, and thus obtain that mercy which thou
best promised to all, who, turning only to thee, deprecate thy
wrath, and also hope for thy favour, through the name of one Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Calvin, Commentary on Joel
(Continued in part 4...)
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